


An Easier Choice

by WritinRedhead



Series: Kiss Prompt Ficlets [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: All the Foreshadowing, But also, Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, F/M, Foreshadowing, Kisses, Light Angst, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 20:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15469389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritinRedhead/pseuds/WritinRedhead
Summary: The first night back on the other side of the wall, an inevitable choice costs Jon sleep.





	An Easier Choice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Artemis1000](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis1000/gifts).



> For the prompts _Breaking The Kiss To Say Something & Staying So Close That You’re Murmuring Into Each Other’s Mouths_. I used the first and kiiind of the second. Enjoy :)

 

“Jon.”

It’s in the middle of the night when he feels her elbow dig into his side. It’s quite sharp, even through the thick layers of fur, but he pretends not to notice, pretends to still be asleep, exhausted from the strenuous climb of the day.

“ _Jon._ ”

The elbow continues trying to make its way between his ribs, making it harder to try and keep his breath even. It’s not convincing as next he gets an annoyed huff as well as a jab strong enough to make him goan.

“Stop pretendin’ to sleep. I know you’re awake, I can hear you thinkin’.”

He sighs and turns around so he’s facing her in the dark. It’s no use to try and pretend anymore. It’ll only earn him more bruises or cold hands slipped under his furs.

“Ygritte…”

“Aye?” She grins and the pale bit of moonlight that shines from the clouded northern sky reflects on her crooked teeth.

“Why are you still awake?”

“Who could sleep with the way your head’s makin’ noise?” She lifts her head up from her quiver that she’d been using as a pillow and props up herself up on the makeshift bedding. Her hair is mussed and some of the red strands fall into his face when she bends over him. She brings up a gloved finger to poke at his forehead. “Care to tell me what’s goin’ on in ‘ere or d’you want me to guess?”

He’s not sure what he wants, not even how to put into words what’s tormenting him, so he keeps quiet. And just looks at her. At the eyes as grey as the clouds hanging over the moon and the mouth twisted into a roguish smirk.

He startles when he sees her teeth dig into her bottom lip and with a move resembling a shadow cat in it’s elegance, she rolls on top of him, entangles his legs with hers and has his hands pinned over his head before he can so much as blink.

For a heartbeat he thinks she’s going to kiss him when she leans down, but she doesn’t. She stops just a hair’s breadth before their mouths meet, leaving him hanging with his eyes half closed and chin risen, feeling like an idiot who really knows nothing.

Instead she presses her forehead against his and the contrast of the icy night air and her warm breath streaming over his cheeks sends a shiver down his spine. He angles his hips a bit to the side lest he gives her even more leverage over him.

“I could just make you tell me,” she threatens. Her nose brushes past his and he feels the fingers of her right hand slip in between his, squeezing lightly. “You know I can, so out with it.”

He chuckles, low, but with a hint of amusement that only she gets to coax from him.

“I don’t doubt it.” Her touch is comforting and so he keeps their fingers interlaced, only takes a breath of crips air before he speaks. “The direction we’re going... It’s Castle Black we’re heading for. Not Eastwatch-by-the-sea or the Shadow Tower.”

Her silence is enough of an answer for him. Not that he would have needed one, he’d know where they were going since they’d taken the first step toward the wall. Had he been in the place of the king beyond the wall, he would have made the same decision.

“Jon…”

Her voice is strained by the weight of the secret that is shared between the two of them and she grips his hand tighter.

“I only once met a messenger from Estwatch and I don’t know anyone from the Shadow Tower...”

But he does know those of Castle Black. He has shared meat and mead with them. Fought with them. They’re his brothers, and some even his friends. He can’t think otherwise, no matter the color of his coat.

He turns his face away from her but can’t entirely resist the closeness of her body and the comfort it promises. She smells of woodsmoke from the campfire and moist leather from the frosted ground beneath and she’s kind enough not to comment on the way he buries his face under her hair and against her skin as he tries to block out the rest of the goddamned world.

“Y’know,” he mutters into her neck. “Sometimes I wish I were someone else. Not a lord or a true-born like I did as a child. Not a ranger or a man of the free folk. Just… just someone who doesn’t give a fuck about it all. About loyalty. Or honor, for that matter. Everything would be easier...”

His free hand balls into a fist for a moment before it falls slack again in resignation.

“Easier, mayhaps.”

A gentle nudge beneath his chin makes him lift his head. It takes one single look into her eyes and he can tell she already knows everything that’s going on in his head. She pulls her other hand out of his, but only to brush his face free of the unruly black that peeks out from under the line of his hood. It’s a touch different from the times she’s dug her fingers into his hair, tugged and clawed at it, yet it still manages to enthrall him, leading away from the dark thoughts threatening to wash over him.

“But that wouldn’t be you, now would it? That’d be just some other man, without honor or a spine. And not the one I chose.”

“Ygritte… I-”

She cuts him off by placing a gloved finger over his lips until his protest dies down. Then she takes his face into both her hands and it looks like she’s staring right into his very soul.

“Just when I thought you knew something… I know who you are, Jon Snow. Maybe even better than you think I do, but it doesn’t change a thing. I’m yours. No matter what happens.” Her voice becomes lower until it is nothing more than a whisper, each word brushing over his lips with the promise of a touch yet to come. “And you’re mine,” she breathes.

When her lips finally press against his, it’s like breaking through water. She washes away the feeling of being torn between two worlds and keeps away the hard, painful choice he’ll have to make for a moment longer. It’s not much, but it’s all he gets and if that’s how it is, then that moment is enough for him.

“Do you hear me?” She asks when pulls away barely enough to get the words out, their breaths mingling as they’re both panting for air. “No matter what.”

He nods. “Yeah, I do. No matter what,” he echoes back.

Then he presses his mouth to hers again, buries his gloved hands in the red and fiery mess that hangs down on his face, and prays to the old gods and the new that it still holds true when the time comes.

And it will.

 


End file.
